We Begin And End in Kanto
by Lupa Eira
Summary: Alice has been on the road for four years, sometimes with her best friend Hans, sometimes without. Now she returns to Pallet Town for a visit, but encounters poachers that kidnap three of her team. Now Alice must confront her past, save her Pokemon, rehabilitate an agressive Mightyena, and look after a ten year old all at once. Just an average life for a Trainer...right?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I've just loved it since before I can remember and I always will.**

Chapter One

Alice observed the situation before her—three boys with a Pokémon apiece they must have gotten from their parents or something—a Raichu, a Golduck, and a Houndoom. The boys had jumped out on the path in front of her and demanded a match with her.

Alice couldn't even express her annoyance.

She was walking through the forest, maybe three miles from her home Pallet Town, returning after two and a half years for the second time since she had started her Pokémon journey four years previously. She had gone home in search of human company—she loved all five of her Pokémon, their trust and allegiance had been hard won and she wouldn't trade them for anything, but it had been months since Alice had run into any humans she knew. She had been looking forward to seeing her mother and father and spending some quality time relaxing. Her Pokémon would have been able to eat some quality food by her mother, who specialized in Pokémon cuisine.

Instead she was being harassed by these three idiots.

"Fine," she said. "Who's first?" The most cocky boy stepped forward with his Raichu. Sighing in irritation, Alice turned behind her and called, "Roxanne!" A Ninetales calmly trotted up to her Trainer seemingly from nowhere. Alice and Roxanne's eyes met, with the Ninetales understanding her Trainer's silent apology of the disruption of the peace. Turning her gaze forward, Alice flicked her hand and said, "Flame Wheel!" Before the boy or his Raichu could react, Roxanne shot forward like a bullet, a burst of flame streaming from her mouth. The Raichu didn't have a chance and fainted as soon as the attack was over. Roxanne calmly walked back to her Trainer, tails swishing. Alice smiled and murmured words of praise. Behind her, more Pokémon had started to gather—an Arcanine who was clearly watching over a Bulbasaur and a Joltik.

The next boy stepped forward looking nervous, but he boosted his own confidence by saying, "Ha! You've got no good Pokémon against Houndoom!"

Alice smiled enigmatically. "Don't I?" She two fingers to her mouth and whistled loudly. Almost instantly, a dark form shot over the trees and began to descend towards the group. A giant Aerodactyl landed in front of the boys, much to their terror. Shrieking like little girls, they ran off.

"You're welcome!" Alice called after them sarcastically. Her Aerodactyl turned to her with a grin some might have mistaken for wanting to bite her, but Alice knew better, and laughed. "You'd never hurt anyone, huh, Wolf?" she said, rubbing the beast's snout affectionately. In total trust, the tiny Joltik scuttled over and hopped onto Alice's arm, and from there, to the top of the Aerodactyl's head. "You're even Tiktok's special friend," she laughed affectionately. She turned to the rest of her team—Roxanne, Grape Vine the Bulbasaur, and Claws the Arcanine. "Come on, guys, we're almost there. Just another hour or two of walking. Unless you'd rather we flew and got there sooner? I know we originally decided to walk for the peace of it, but I'm not sure I want to run into any more idiots like that."

Roxanne, Claws, and Wolf appeared to confer for a while—Tiktok always went along with whatever Wolf agreed, and as for Grape, he had hatched from his Egg a mere three weeks previously, and was never included in decision making. He was there to learn. After a little while, Wolf spread his wings and bent down—a signal for Alice to climb aboard.

"All right," she agreed. "Into your Poké Balls for the rest of you." Once they were Returned, she clambered onto Wolf's back and they flew off towards Pallet Town. It was only a twenty minute flight, and Alice landed in her house's backyard.

"Alice!" her mother Dana cried, running out to meet her. "We weren't expecting you until later!"

"I ran into some Trainers," she said, annoyance plain in her voice. "We were enjoying our walk—well, Wolf was enjoying his flight—and suddenly these three kids were in front of me, demanding a match apiece."

Her mother laughed. "So you have some new Pokémon, I see." Her mother's Jolteon Zaza looked up at the Aerodactyl with interest.

"Oh, right, you haven't met two of them."

"Two? You've been busy." Alice smiled and released the rest of her friends from their Poké Balls, who Zaza imperiously walked up to in order to make their acquaintances.

Most Trainers would probably have caught several dozen or more in a two and half year period of time, but not Alice. She only ever took Pokémon into her team after a hardship or an adventure together, and only with their consent. Roxanne had started her journey with her (then a Vulpix) as a gift from her mother, Claws had been found less than a week later abandoned by an inconsiderate Trainer. A Growlithe at the time, Claws had taken an instant liking to Roxanne, following her around. Since Roxanne trusted Alice, eventually Claws trusted Alice too, and officially became a member of the team.

For the year or so, it had only been the three of them, training and battling, seeing the natural wonders Kanto had to offer. Then Alice teamed up with a boy named Hans and his Pokémon (a Squirtle named Tiber, a female Nidoran named Bella, and his Vaporeon named Shot) to stop some poachers, during which battle she gained Wolf the gentle giant into her team. She and Hans ended up traveling to the next city together, and the next, and the next. Eventually it came to a point where they never questioned traveling with each other.

"Where is Hans?" her mother looked around, frowning. Alice smiled sadly.

"I don't know," she said truthfully. Hans had left her side more than six months previously when she decided to travel to back to Hoenn and work on a ranch there to take a break from traveling. He had decided to stay in Unova, where she had found Tiktok in a different poacher attack, or rather Wolf had—every one of the tiny Pokémon had been taken from their enormous nest located in a cavern, but Wolf had somehow known that one was still there. The poor thing had been frightened to death, but Wolf took care of her and eventually she trusted everyone in the team, though she still had a special relationship with the immense Aerodactyl who could have crushed her underfoot without trying. As for Grape, Hans himself had found the egg and entrusted it to Alice, partially as a parting gift, partially because he already had six Pokémon in his team.

_"No one will take care of it as well as you," he insisted. "Here. So you don't forget me."_

"Alice?" Dana asked, waving a hand in front her daughter's eyes, making Alice snap out of her reverie.

"Sorry," the Trainer said. "You know Roxanne and Claws, of course, and Wolf. This is Tiktok and Grape Vine." The two littlest and newest members of her team gave her wary looks. "It's all right, honest," Alice laughed. "She's my mother. Go on, don't be shy!" Tiktok, who was friendly with virtually everyone, immediately leaped onto Dana's head and snuggled into her hair. When Grape still hesitated, Claws and Roxanne walked up to Alice's mother. Roxanne lay at her feet and Claws rubbed her leg, wagging her tail when Dana petted her affectionately. Since Grape trusted the older Fire types like they were his older siblings, he tentatively walked over to Dana and let her pet him after a few minutes.

"So," Dana said, looking up suddenly. Tiktok squeaked indignantly at the sudden movement and hopped into Alice's hand, where the Trainer began stroking the little Bug type absentmindedly. "Did you two fight?"

"What?" Alice said, the question completely catching her off guard. "No, no, we just ended up finally wanting to go two different places, that's all."

"After nearly three years, you just went your separate ways," her mother said, shaking her head. "It's a shame that—" But whatever had been such a shame, Dana didn't get to say. Everyone perked up their ears as an announcement came over the speakers located throughout town.

"_Attention residents of Pallet Town,_" Officer Jenny's voice pronounced. "_Two poachers are on the loose in the forest. These poachers are well known, experienced in their trade and very dangerous. Do not panic, I repeat, do not panic. The police force will handle it. I must request that no one go into the forest at this time, and keep your Pokémon with you._" After that, the speaker crackled and went silent.

Dana knew the look in her daughter's eye, even if she hadn't seen it for two and a half years.

"No," she said sternly. "You heard them, the police will handle it."

"Mom, how many poachers does Pallet Town come across in the course of say ten years? Maybe one or two. The police aren't prepared for this, I guarantee it. Besides, there aren't a lot of Pokémon around here that are worth poaching, especially if these poachers are well known. There's got to be an unusual Pokémon, at least for this region, on the loose in the forest right now. That means the poachers have probably been chasing it for miles. If that's the case, those poachers will be willing to do anything." Alice was already clambering up on Wolf and her Pokémon had been hastily Returned.

"Alice, I don't know if you realize how dangerous this is!" Dana said furiously. "This isn't a game, you could get seriously hurt—"

"Mom," Alice said, turning to face her. "I've faced more poachers than I can count, and Hans wasn't always there to watch out for me. I know what I'm doing, although I can't say that the police force of Pallet Town does. They could take a half hour to get organized, and by then it'll be too late. There might be a hurt Pokémon that I can help, and I'll never forgive myself if I don't do something." With no further comment, Alice shouted a command: "Fly!" and Wolf took off at top speed.

Alice kept her eyes sharp, watching for signs of a high speed pursuit—a flock of panicked Spearow, perhaps, or the sounds of a stampede. What she wasn't expecting was to see smoke rising from an area close to town. Alice frowned in confusion. According to the police announcement, these poachers were experienced, not inept enough to set a fire that clearly gave away their location, even by accident. They might have been chasing a Fire type through the woods, but that didn't make sense to Alice—if that were the case, more sections of the forest would be ablaze. So what was she dealing with? She was thinking so much that she almost didn't see the streaking forms of a Pokémon being followed by two adult men on foot through the heavy undergrowth. She was close enough to hear them shouting to each other:

"That Mightyena is too wild, we can't catch it on foot! The forest is too dense!"

"It's so dense that in a few minutes the whole forest will be ablaze! Come on, let's get back to the truck!" The two poachers peeled away from their pursuit of the Mightyena and went in a different direction. Alice felt a hatred boil up in her stomach—she wanted justice for this crime.

"There, Wolf!" she said. "We'll land in that clearing." As he landed, Alice was already forming a plan. "Wolf, you've got to listen to me very carefully, understand? We can't let that fire get any more out of control. I need you to fly above the fire and get as close to the treetops as you can, and flap in short, powerful, controlled bursts. That should help stop the fire. Got it?" Wolf gave a cry to show he'd heard. "Okay, go!"

Quickly, Alice released Claws and Roxanne. Almost as an afterthought, she released Tiktok as well. There was no way she was going to release Grape, he was too young and that was that. "Tik, hitch a ride on Claws," she instructed. "Roxanne and Claws, I need you both to go find those poachers and try to trap them. Use your Bite attacks if you have to, but _do not_ use any Fire type attacks. I know I can trust you. You've done this before. Tik, once they've cornered the poachers, wrap them up. Got it?" The Fire types stood, poised to run, and took off as soon as Alice gave the signal. She wasn't worried—they would be fine if the fire reached them, and she knew it wouldn't. They were too smart for that.

Meanwhile, Alice took off through the undergrowth herself with a goal in mind—to save the Mightyena the poachers had been chasing. Alice knew the behaviors of Mightyena like the back of her hand. She had worked on a reserve in Hoenn that was specifically designed for them. A single Mightyena in a situation like this would panic and be totally irrational, focused on their most primal instincts of running, and if necessary, attacking. She had seen the way it was running from the poachers—it hadn't been at the top speed it could have been even with the thickness of the forest, not even close. It had to have inhaled a lot of the smoke from the fire. There was no way it could have kept running—it must have collapsed by now.

Sure enough, within five minutes of running in the general direction she had seen it, Alice saw it—a Mightyena, clearly wild, collapsed. The fire was spreading quickly despite Wolf's efforts. She needed to get out of the forest quickly—there was no way possible that she could carry over a hundred pounds of dead weight, especially with all the smoke. There just wasn't a choice.

With a promise to release the Mightyena as soon as it was recovered, Alice reluctantly took out a Poké Ball and threw it at the Mightyena for capture. It only took a few seconds since the poor creature was so incapacitated. Once it was safely captured, Alice took one look at the racing fire coming ever closer and decided to run out of the woods.

What she saw once she got out astonished her. A boy about her age with brown hair, swimmer's goggles perched ridiculously on his head as always, and all-blue clothing was scolding a younger girl who looked like she was ten. And she knew the boy.

_Hans?_ Almost as though he had read her thoughts, the boy looked up and saw her.

"Alice!" he said, just as shocked as she was. "What are you doing here?"

"Decided to come home, and then I heard about the poachers," she said warily. "You?"

"Poachers?" Hans asked, aghast. "There were poachers?" He turned to the girl. "So that's what you were 'practicing' for?"

"I sent Roxanne, Tik and Claws to take care of them. There was an injured Mightyena they were chasing. Wait, so what were you doing?" Alice finally registered the girl beside him. "Who's this?"

"She's the source of the fire, which I had Shot and Tiber put out, by the way. She told me she was 'practicing' with her Charmander in the woods, but I'm pretty sure—" here Hans looked the girl straight in the eye—"that she lied to me."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" the girl burst out. In her anger, she wrinkled her nose covered with freckles and her bright red hair appeared to stand up. She glared at the other two Trainers. "I thought good people were supposed to try and stop bad people! Besides, the other kids kept making fun of me! I _had_ to prove them wrong!" Alice walked over to the kid, furious.

"What's your name?" she asked icily.

"Annie."

"Annie, do you have any idea what you've done?" Before the kid could answer, Alice went on in a raised voice, "You've just displaced dozens, possibly hundreds of Pokémon, poisoned a portion of the soil so that nothing will grow here for years, destroyed a food supply, and essentially disrupted an entire ecosystem. Wildfires are great when they occur naturally because they allow the earth to regenerate. Pokémon expect those kinds of fires, they're ready for them. This, on the other hand, was a man-made fire created by inexperience and recklessness. If you don't think there's something wrong with what you did, we've got a serious problem." Before she could go any further, Hans laid a hand on Alice's arm, signaling he wanted to talk. "Wait here," Alice said to Annie, and walked a few feet away with Hans. He wasted no time on saying what his piece.

"I want her to travel with one of us," he said in a low voice. Alice opened her mouth, but he put up a hand to stop her. "She had relatively good intentions, Alice. I think she has potential, but she needs a lot of guidance. It wouldn't be responsible of one of us to let her start her journey on her own." Alice saw his point and sighed.

"Where were you planning on going?" she asked. A thought occurred to her. "And why are you even here?"

"I was tracking those poachers. They stole Bella." Alice's eyes widened in shock and she put her hand over her mouth. Bella was Hans' Nidorina, and his ultimate Pokémon partner. She was a part of him. Alice couldn't imagine how devastatedHans had been when Bella had been taken.

"How long ago was this?" she asked shakily.

"About a month ago," Hans said, eyes flashing like steel.

"A _month_?!"

"These are pretty top-notch poachers," Hans sighed in frustration. "I've almost given up hope. Nidorina go for a pretty high price on the black market in places like Unova or Hoenn."

"Hans…is there anything I can do?"

"Well, I thought you were working on that preserve, but now that you're here…do you maybe want to travel together again so we can find her?" Alice gave him a hug in answer. When they pulled back from the embrace, Hans frowned. "Your backpack is a lot lighter." His face lit up in realization. "Did the egg hatch?"

"Yeah!" Alice said, taking Grape's Poké Ball from her belt and releasing him. The adorable Bulbasaur blinked his eyes and yawned like he'd just been taking a nap. "He's just a few weeks old," Alice said, eyes shining as she looked at the baby of her group. "His name is Grape Vine, well, Grape. Roxanne and Claws are so protective of him." Inquisitively and with the innocence of a child, Grape stretched up a vine to Hans' hand.

"I can't imagine a better family for him to grow up with," Hans laughed.

"Well, isn't this cute," a new voice said. It was masculine, rough—adult. Hans and Alice spun around to see the two poachers in the front seat of a truck. In the back were cages full of Pokémon—Alice's Pokémon. Roxanne and Claws were trapped in the same cage, and Tiktok was nowhere to be seen, as was Wolf.

"Let them go!" Alice screamed. She'd never had her Pokémon captured before, and it scared her that her two best fighters had been overpowered.

"I like that Bulbasaur of yours, girl," the taller poacher drawled. Alice instinctively shielded her little one, but before her second instinct—to Return him to his Poké Ball—could kick in, a giant Pidgeot had swooped in seemingly from nowhere and scooped up Grape, plopping him into the same cage as Roxanne and Claws. Now they couldn't use their Fire type abilities to break out or they risked hurting the Grass type in the cage with them.

No. They were _not_ going to take her baby. Before she could do anything, however, Hans stepped in front of her and in front of Annie, who looked like she wanted to fight. A murderous gleam was in his eyes as he released his Blastoise Tiber, too large to fit into the cages.

"Hydro Cannon!" he shouted, pointing at the poachers. Tiber turned his cannons toward the poachers. Unexpectedly, the taller one in the driver's seat just pushed a button and a contraption like a waterwheel shot out from the underside of the truck, maneuvered to catch the blast and propel the truck forward. Laughing, the two poachers took off in their truck at top speed, carrying three of Alice's Pokémon away with them. Alice was aware of screaming and falling to her knees, and Hans beside her, trying his best not to cry and saying something to her. Eventually she realized he was saying "I'm sorry" over and over again.

"It wasn't your fault, Hans," she said, face streaked with tears. "It's mine. I let them go alone, I let Grape out of his Poké Ball."

"I wasn't thinking!" he said desperately. "I knew they had contraptions like that on that blasted truck of theirs, but all I could think of was Bella, and seeing your Pokémon like that—Grape's so young, he probably had no idea what was going on, and Roxanne and Claws looked like helpless parents trying to protect their child—"

"They think of him and Tiktok that way," Alice said, trying not to give in to hysteria. Then she realized—Tiktok. Wolf. Her _other_ Pokémon. And the Mightyena in the Poké Ball at her belt who needed immediate medical attention.

"_TIK!"_ she screamed, and whistled for Wolf. Her gentle giant appeared out of the sky with the tiny form of a Joltik clinging to his snout. Alice ran to them in tears. Wolf made whimpering sounds that his Trainer knew were apologies.

"I know, I know," she said, cradling her shivering Joltik to her chest with one arm and stroking Wolf's snout, wiping his tears away. "I know you would've helped if you hadn't been frightened. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm glad you and Tik are safe. Understand? I'm glad." Wolf still wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Why?" Annie's voice sounded behind her. Alice spun around in a fury. "If he's strong enough to save them, why was his being afraid and not helping okay?" Alice's expression darkened like a thundercloud.

"Alice," Hans warned. "We'll deal with this later. We need to get back to town and see if we can track the poachers." Throwing both Annie and Hans a murderous glance, Alice climbed on Wolf and gestured for Hans and Annie to do the same. Wolf was large enough and the trip was short enough that it wouldn't cause him too much of a strain.

"We need to go the Pokémon Center first," Alice said in a broken voice, remembering the Mightyena with a pang of guilt. The Aerodactyl flew off toward the Center with a mournful cry, tears once again slipping out of his eyes in sorrow.

**Any advice? I'm inclined to continue it, but only if there's sufficient interest. Rate and review, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Only one review so far, but I haven't updated this something like three months or a similar length of time, so yeah. Hopefully more people will start reading it if I post more chapters. Enjoy, rate, and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, unfortunately. Don't we all wish?**

Chapter Two

As soon as Wolf landed, Hans immediately leaped off and ran to the local police station to see if they had any information, or if they did not, to give them information about the truck and the poachers so that they could try to help out. Alice, meanwhile, Returned Wolf and rushed inside the Center holding the Poké Ball in which the Mightyena was being kept in one hand and her still-shivering Joltik in the other. Annie had no choice but to follow.

The ten-year-old stood behind and watched the older Trainer as she went up to the desk. "I have a Mightyena who needs attention for exhaustion and smoke inhalation and goodness knows what besides, and my Joltik needs treatment for trauma; I don't know if she has any medical injuries." She set the Poké Ball down and it was immediately taken away, the Mightyena released on a gurney and whisked away to the emergency room. As for Tiktok, a nurse attended to her right there in the lobby.

"It's all right, Tik," Alice soothed the tiny creature as she was delivered into the tender hands of the nurse. "She's a Bug-Electric type—"

"Don't worry, miss, I worked in Unova for ten years before I moved here," the nurse smiled reassuringly, handling the tiny Pokémon with extreme gentleness. "She's fine, miss, just frightened."

"Thank goodness," Alice sighed, putting a hand in front of her eyes to indicate stress. "Just bad memories, then. Her entire nest, including her mother, they were all carried off by poachers. Thankfully my team found her. That was maybe a year ago, while I was still in Unova." The nurse nodded sympathetically and handed Tiktok back to Alice. Poaching was more common in Unova than in any other region, so stories like that were pretty common. The Joltik, meanwhile, immediately settled into Alice's hair.

"Where's Unova?" Annie piped up curiously. Now that Alice had gotten Tiktok her medical treatment, she seemed a lot less high strung and took out a map. Annie could tell that she was still worried like crazy for the rest of her team, though—she kept wringing her hands and glancing around like they might just be around the corner.

"Here," she said, pointing at the map. "I've also been to these three regions, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Hoenn and Kanto are my two special favorite regions. Hans prefers Unova and Johto. We were talking about going to the Orange Islands because Hans thought there would be lots of Water types there that he wanted to see before we split up." Alice thought of those two and a half years she and Hans had spent together, side by side: arguing over where to spend the night, growing crankier when they didn't have a lot of food for several days on the road, Hans constantly flaunting his Water types over Alice's Fire types, training together every day, saving each other from poachers, attempting (and failing) to make Pokéblocks and somehow managing to make one good batch of Poffins. She missed those years more than almost anything.

"When did you start your journey, anyway? I mean, since you've managed to travel through all of those regions," Annie asked, snapping Alice out of her reverie.

"Four years ago," Alice said a little wistfully. "It seems like only yesterday I started with Roxanne—" her voice died at the mention of her kidnapped Ninetales. Clearing her throat and blinking tears back from her eyes, Alice looked Annie in the eye and said, "Annie, quite frankly, Hans and I think it would be better if you traveled with us for the time being."

"Why, because you're afraid I'll set fire to every forest I go to?" Annie snapped angrily.

"No, not at all," Alice reassured her. "You have a good heart, and you have a lot of potential, but you're rash and you need guidance. Hans and I feel like we could provide that to you." Before Alice could say more, Annie stood up and looked angrily at someone behind them who was running towards them.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" she said edgily.

"I just overheard that girl," she said breathlessly, reaching them and looking at Alice. "You just said you'd travel with my daughter?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alice said, ignoring Annie's look of fury thrown her way. "My friend and I feel like we could teach her. I've been on the road for four years, I know what goes on." The woman breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you," she said, looking back at her daughter. "Thank you; I needed that peace of mind."

"My pleasure, ma'am," Alice said softly. The woman, nearly in tears, thanked the older Trainer again and left, pressing a bag of homemade food into her daughter's hands before she left the Center. "Your mother seems like a very protective parent," Alice observed.

"Yeah, she's always hovering," Annie said in an irritated manner. Alice laughed suddenly at her expression. "What?" Annie scowled.

"You remind me of a Mightyena I once knew named Commander," she said, still laughing. "He was the Beta of his pack on the preserve in Hoenn, always looking out for everyone but hating when the others tried to protect him. Rosalie, she was the Alpha, she always kept him in line whenever his protective instincts went too far." Annie looked at Alice curiously, seeing her shining eyes as she thought of her past.

"If you like Mightyena so much, why don't you have one on your team?" Annie asked. Startled, Alice looked up and sighed.

"I'd rather not say, Annie. But," she said in a somewhat lighter tone, "I will answer that question you asked me earlier, now that Wolf won't be able to overhear. Remember, you asked me why, if Wolf was strong enough to try and stop the poachers, why it was okay that he didn't."

"Yeah," Annie said, looking at her curiously. "Seemed kind of stupid especially since you'd just lost half your team." Immediately Annie knew that she'd said the wrong thing as a look of something beyond fury crossed Alice's face. However, Alice appeared to steel herself, calming herself.

"You have to understand, most of my team—with the exception of my Ninetales and my Bulbasaur—were rescued from bad conditions. Claws was abandoned by some idiot Trainer, but Wolf and Tiktok were both victims of poachers. Wolf had been resurrected from a fossil and kept in a cage, studied for what he is, not allowing him to show _who_ he is. The poachers…well, they weren't nice to him, to say the least. I found him and he's never left my side since then." Tears welled up in Alice's eyes as she thought about that day. Roxanne and Claws had been by her side…oh God. She had lost them today, perhaps for good.

A huge wave of guilt crashed over her as the full realization of what had occurred in the forest hit her—she had let down her team. She had let them down; she had been just as rash as Annie had been, except in her case it was worse. She had been known exactly what the risks were, and had sent her Pokémon into a situation she knew they might not get out of.

Annie frowned in confusion as she watched Alice clench her hands into fist, digging her nails into her palms. They sat in silence for about a half hour after that until a nurse ran up to them.

"Miss Alice?" she said, sounding worried. Alice looked up. "Your Mightyena, he woke up and just attacked a nurse; we've got him confined."

"I'm on it," Alice said immediately.

"Is he always this way?" the nurse said as they hurried down the hallway.

"I'm not sure, I just rescued him from the poachers a half hour ago," Alice said matter-of-factly, pulling out a Poké Ball and returning Tiktok. The nurse stopped and stared at her in confusion, and Alice waved her hand as though she could placate the nurse's doubts that way. "I've got over a year's experience working on a ranch in Hoenn designed specifically for Mightyena. A lot of it just consisted of packs living on a large amount of land, and tracking those packs, but I mostly worked in the rehabilitation clinic. I worked with a lot of Trainers and a lot of Mightyena."

"So what were you planning on doing with this Mightyena?" Annie asked, hurrying behind Alice.

"Releasing him," Alice said. "I only caught him because I wanted to keep him alive. If he's human aggressive I'll attempt rehabilitation of some kind." They arrived at the door and Annie moved to follow Alice, curious, but Alice stopped her. "No, Annie," Alice said. "I don't know what the degree of his aggression is. I know techniques for protecting myself in this situation. You don't." The nurse took Annie aside to watch at the window that looked into the room while Alice cautiously entered the room.

The first thing Alice noticed was his stance—he was tense but not low, his tail wasn't raised to full height. That was good, it just meant he was unsure about her. He was growling, but that didn't bother Alice very much—silence would have been much more dangerous. Alice breathed an internal sigh of relief—this she could manage. She could help this Pokémon. She doubted it would relief her of the burden of…past crimes…but

perhaps she could bring herself some peace of mind.

She moved towards him cautiously but calmly with a muzzle in her hand, not making eye contact, almost pretending he wasn't there. His growling intensified as she stood over him. She half-knelt, cornering him between the hospital bed and the wall, but still giving him access to an escape route. This was the most dangerous moment. Either he would attack her or he wouldn't.

The Mightyena lunged towards her throat with jaws wide open in a Bite attack. Reacting instantly, Alice sprung backwards out of the way and darted her hand out over his snapping jaws to the scruff of his neck, grabbing the fistful of skin and fur there. It effectively immobilized the Pokémon. Alice swung a leg over his back so that she was standing over him, then quickly secured the muzzle over his mouth with one hand. The Mightyena was trembling from the sensation of being dominated in a fight, and Alice continued to stand over him until he had completely, totally relaxed—no growling, no tenseness in his stance. The brain can only stay in a fearful or defensive state for a certain period of time before the body is forced to cope with the situation. Gently, Alice began massaging him, particularly near his hips, where the body naturally concentrates tenseness. Cautiously and slowly taking out a leash, Alice attached it to the collar which automatically came with this particular muzzle and began walking out of the room, not checking or stopping to see if the Mightyena was following. She knew he would be.

The nurse and Annie were gaping as Alice led him out. She jerked the leash a little when he tried to make eye contact with Annie. His posture was once again tense, but that didn't seem to both Alice too much. She grinned.

"I think I'll name him Kane," she said, periodically jerking the leash if Kane tried to make eye contact or focus on anyone other than Alice. "The trick is to make him take his cues from me," she explained to the baffled nurse and Annie. "Making eye contact is a challenge or a sign of aggression. If you made eye contact with him, he'd probably lunge at you."

"Isn't putting a muzzle on him kind of inhumane?" Annie asked, eyeing the device.

"It's the best way to rehabilitate him on the go without him hurting anybody," Alice assured her. "And it's not hurting him, either."

Suddenly, Hans appeared, running towards them from down the hallway.

"We've got to go now, the poachers were spotted heading towards Viridian Forest—" he stopped dead in shock when he saw Alice with Kane. "Alice…" he said in concern.

"I'll be fine," she said calmly, though Annie thought she heard her voice shake a little. "Come on Annie, we're leaving." She turned to the nurse, indicating Kane. "Is he fully healed?"

"Y-yes," the woman said hesitantly. "He's very strong and he didn't inhale much smoke. He mostly collapsed from exhaustion, but one good dose in the machine with his Poké Ball cured him of that too."

"Good, because I need to run," Alice said matter-of-factly. Her face broke out into a real smile, a big smile. Hans still looked very concerned as the older Trainer made a clicking sound with her tongue and started trotting down the hallway. Kane had no choice but to follow. Annie watched in utter fascination as Alice ran—her long dark hair swinging out in its ponytail with her long legs stretching, almost seeming to expand. The beast beside her seemed the most natural companion in the world. Annie had never seen anything like it, and looked to Hans for some kind of answer. He watched the scene with a mixture of helplessness, longing, and some kind of happiness as Alice disappeared around the corner, putting his hands in his pockets and sighing.

"Alice has a strong affinity with canine-like Pokémon," he said, still staring at the place where she had gone. "Some Trainers have affinities with particular types, like Fire or Electric types, but she likes the ones like wolves or dogs. She ran every morning and every night with Roxanne and Claws and—" here he stopped, remembering it wasn't his place to tell Alice's secrets. "Come on, Annie," he said in a suspiciously forced lighter tone. "There's no use hanging around here. We've got to get to the next town." They started quickly walking towards the exit.

"Do you know where she's gone?" Annie asked.

"Most likely to our old campground outside Viridian Forest. It's a nice long run for her to bond with that Mightyena."

"Bond? What does running have to do with bonding?" Annie asked curiously. Hans laughed.

"Running, walking, swimming, and flying with a Pokémon builds an emotional and mental bond," Hans explained. "With Mightyena in particular it's a requirement since they refuse to accept a Trainer who is not their equal, and that includes endurance and speed when running. Alice, thankfully, has a lot of experience with them."

"Did she have a Mightyena?" Annie asked. Hans stiffened up and didn't answer as they exited the Center, taking out one of his Poké Balls and releasing a blue-and-white bird-like Pokémon with wings like cotton balls. Seeing Annie's look, Hans grinned.

"She's a Swablu, from Hoenn," he said. "Fluffy Girl, go track down Alice. If you can catch up to her, give her this—" he gave the Swablu a hastily written note, which she tucked into her beak—"she'll know what to do with it. Then come straight back to us. We'll be on the road to the old campground near the Viridian Forest." Giving an understanding, albeit muffled coo of assent, Fluffy Girl took over gracefully into the sky. "You have a Charmander, don't you?" Hans said abruptly, turning to Annie.

"Yeah," Annie said, unsure of why he was asking.

"Release him. Let him walk with us." As if to prove a point, Hans himself released an energetic Vaporeon, who darted in circles around his Trainer happily upon release.

"How come?"

"Remember what I told you a few minutes ago, how walking with Pokémon ensures bonding? Your Charmander is the only Pokémon you have right now. There's no reason for you to have him inside a Ball. Get to know him. Have you named him?"

"No," Annie said, looking confused. "No one I know gives their Pokémon a name."

"That is a sad misfortune," Hans said gravely as they walked down the road towards the edge of town. "Pokémon have personalities and souls and intelligence just as humans do. I named my Vaporeon 'Shot', for example, because he is the only creature I know who can swim faster than me or Aurora, my Dewgong, in the water. He's like a bullet. Pokémon are our partners. How would you like it if someone called you 'girl' or 'human' all the time?"

"I guess…" Annie said, taking out a Poké Ball. She threw it, releasing a Charmander, and a young one by the look of it. Shot trotted up to the young one curiously, sniffing him and greeting him. The Charmander responded by throwing a bit of an Ember attack at him, which Shot nimbly dodged and smiled at, seemingly amused.

"He's rash, this one!" Hans laughed. "Then again, most Charmanders tend to be when they're young. Most times, if they are trained with care, rashness can turn into bravery." With an idea, the boy snapped his fingers. "That's his name, don't you think? _Brave_."

Annie glanced down at her Charmander, which was keeping some distance away from her. She had never really thought about how her _Pokémon_ would feel on the journey; it had always been about finally gaining independence and proving her own worth. The newly christened Brave looked back at her with unsure, distrusting eyes. A pang hit her in the chest when she realized that this was _his_ first time out in the world, not just hers. Struck by a moment of inspiration, Annie held out her hand to him (being short for her age evidently had advantages). Cautiously, Brave put his hand in hers, and they began walking wordlessly. Hans watched this all with a smile and chose to say nothing.

They walked for two hours straight, chatting about various things. At one point Brave became tired, so Annie carefully picked him up and gave him a piggyback ride on top of her backpack, making sure his flaming tail was out of reach of her clothing. At one point Hans looked up and pointed to a section of the sky.

"Look closely," he said to Annie. She squinted. At first she wasn't certain, but she thought she spotted a moving shape among the clouds and blueness, one that perfectly blended in with its surroundings.

"Is that…your Swablu?" she said hesitantly. Hans beamed.

"Good!" he said. "Being able to distinguish camouflaged Pokémon from their surroundings is a great skill to have, and I want to make sure you develop it." He then proceeded to whistle loudly. "Come on, Fluffy Girl!" Turning to Annie, he said, "She only comes when I call her. Otherwise I let her do what she likes as long as I can see her." Annie nodded, but wasn't sure why he was telling her that. Meanwhile, Fluffy Girl alighted on Hans' arm, holding a different note in her beak, which Hans read aloud. "_I'm at the old campground, Slowpoke. Worry about yourself for a change._"

"Slowpoke?" Annie asked, contracting her eyebrows.

"It's a Water type that's known for moving slowly, hence the name. It's her nickname for me," Hans smiled with a slight blush. Within a minute, the old campground came into their line of sight. "How was your run?" he called to the figure sitting there. Alice looked up, and Annie noticed a bright smile decorating her features when she saw Hans.

"Amazing," Alice said as they drew closer. "This guy is like a combination of a tank and a jet plane," she said, indicating the Mightyena beside her. He was eating some food out of a bowl.

"Already going over basics?" Hans asked knowingly.

"Yeah, he's really smart." Alice spotted Annie with her Charmander. "Did he already give you his 'bonding' spiel?"

"Yeah," Annie said, gently putting Brave on the ground. "His name is Brave," she said with a hint of pride in her voice (though she wasn't quite sure what she was proud of yet).

"It's a good strong name. Hey, Hans?" Alice called to where he was setting up feeding and sleeping areas. "Do me a favor and release all your Pokémon, will you?"

"Why?"

"I need to start socializing Kane right away."

"You know I can't release Aurora, there's no water."

"Sure you can, just have Tiber douse her with Water Gun every ten or fifteen minutes and she'll be fine." Hans sighed, knowing he wouldn't win the argument.

"Fine, you win, but if she gets uncomfortable I'm sending her straight back into her Poké Ball."

"Deal."

Annie watched in amazement as Hans released his friends—a large, pale white Dewgong, a towering Blastoise, and a haughty Marowak. Annie counted but he only had five Pokémon total.

"Don't you have six?" she asked. Suddenly the atmosphere dropped several degrees and Annie opened and closed her mouth, unsure of whether to apologize.

"We're both missing members of our teams right now, Annie," Alice said quietly, releasing her own Pokémon and holding up a hand to stop Wolf from going anywhere. "No, Wolf. Stay here; don't fly off."

"So why aren't we going after them right now?" Annie asked in confusion.

"As much as we'd like to, we can't," Alice said. "We can't risk getting lost in Viridian Forest when it's close to nightfall like this. Unfortunately, today they've got a head start. We're going to set out as soon as it's light again, but for now there's not much we can do."

"You're just going to let them go like that?" Annie raged, balling her hands into fists.

"Annie," Hans said warningly. "Alice already told you, it's not by choice. The fact of the matter is that there is no way we can go into the middle of the forest at night. We'd get lost, even if we flew. It's just too dark." Annie settled by her sleeping Charmander, smoldering.

"We should all get some rest," Alice said quietly. She started drawing out her sleeping bag. Wolf settled on the ground and Tiktok settled on top of his head. Kane seemed very unsure, but decided to stick by, of everyone, Aurora. The quiet Dewgong seemed to radiate inner strength and peace, which Kane was naturally drawn to in order to have a sense of stability.

Annie took out her sleeping bag too, as did Hans, and they all settled into an uneasy silence. One by one, everyone, human and Pokémon alike, drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Annie woke up in the middle of the night. She could hear Alice's and Hans's voices talking lowly a few feet away, and listened with sleepy curiosity.

"…I just don't know if I can do this."

"You seemed pretty sure of yourself this afternoon."

"I was acting in the heat of the moment. Besides, what was I supposed to do, abandon him or leave him in the hands of someone who might have gotten hurt? I didn't really have a choice." Hans sighed.

"I know," he said. "I just wish you were confident with your decisions again. Where's the Alice I knew who wouldn't have hesitated to plunge into Viridian Forest in the dead of night and to heck with the consequences? Sure you would have gotten lost but you would've done it."

"The Alice who would've done that is gone with Achilles and the litter, you know that," Alice said viciously, though not towards Hans.

"For God's sake, Alice, that wasn't your fault!" There was silence for a few moments. "You've been blaming yourself all this time?"

"What's not to blame?" she said bitterly. "I was careless. Achilles and two of the pups died. The other three are God knows where. And Rosalie died of a broken heart."

"Alice…"

"Stop it. Stop talking about it."

"You've been keeping this bottled up inside you for so long that one day it's going to explode out of you if you're not careful!"

"Enough!" Alice said, finally raising her voice. "Enough," she repeated quietly. Annie heard a rustling noise as Alice settled into her sleeping bag. "Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and this will all have turned out to be a long dream."

Hans didn't answer, and Alice's breathing soon indicated that she had fallen asleep. Annie risked opening her eyes a bit to sneak a look at Hans. He was staring at Alice with the deepest sadness she had ever seen apparent in his eyes. She quickly shut her eyes, the impression of his pain burned on her brain.

**So, what do you all think? Please review so I can find out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**All right, Nobel Six, you're the only one who I know is reading this…but! I really do love this story, so if all I need to do is keep posting and keep posting for people to start reading, then fine. All I know is that I just really need to get this story out. So enjoy, rate, and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. If I did, tons of the 5****th**** generation Pokémon would not exist. Also, I would have make a Pokémon Conquest TV series for teens and Ash would have been done as a main character a long time ago.**

Chapter Three

Annie groggily woke the next morning to the smell of cooking food and the sounds of people and Pokémon alike scampering about, making cheerful morning noises. Groaning, Annie stretched, opening her eyes. To her surprise, Brave was curled up to her side, still fast asleep. There was an inexplicable fluttering of her heart at the sight, and her lips curled up in a smile.

"Time to get up, Annie," Alice called. When Annie looked at her, she was surprised to see all her camping gear already packed and organized into her large backpack, despite that the sun was just barely into the sky. What looked like a mash-up of different berries and greens was sitting in Alice's open hand. The teeny Pokémon Tiktok was climbing all over Alice's hand and picking at the food she was given, squeaking happily when she found something she wanted. Annie saw a rare smile of absolute love and adoration light up Alice's face. "Tik, you're such a picky eater," Annie heard the older girl laugh.

"Come on, let's go," Hans said, appearing in front of her. "We can't afford to take time right now. You have to get used to packing quickly and getting up when you need to, not when you want to." Gently, he shook Brave. "Come on, you too, little guy. Let's go." He turned back to Annie, who had gotten up and looked unsure of where to start. "Pack up your sleeping bag, get dressed quickly, feed Brave, and then we can get going. You can eat something while we're moving. Okay?"

"Sure." Trying to fast, Annie rolled her bag into a squashed, messy cylinder and stuffed it into her pack. She walked a little ways into the forest to get dressed, then rushed back. She looked around for a bit for Brave, but didn't see him anywhere.

"Brave?" she called uncertainly. Hans and Alice looked up at her call.

"I don't see him anywhere…" Hans murmured as he glanced around him. Suddenly, Alice gasped. With no warning whatsoever, she started running just as Annie spotted the situation—Brave had gotten too close to Kane, and Kane had lunged and pinned the Charmander to the ground. Luckily the Mightyena had a muzzle on, but it was still a very serious situation.

"Brave!" Annie cried, attempting to run towards her Pokémon, but Hans held out an arm to stop her.

"No! Let Alice handle this," he warned.

"But—"

"_Annie_!" Hans growled. The ten-year-old flinched, having never heard him raise his voice before; he always seemed so calm. It was that, more than anything, which frightened her. Helplessly, she glued her eyes to the chaos unfolding before her.

In the meanwhile, Alice had rushed into action. Without making a single sound, she wrested Kane away from Brave, pinning him down by his neck. Despite that he was large and kept struggling, Alice maintained a state of absolute calmness, almost serenity. Within minutes, the Mightyena had relaxed completely, quivering in total submission.

"Yelling would have just made it worse," Hans said quietly, almost as if by rote. "You can go get Brave now."

Annie rushed to her Charmander and scooped him up protectively. She felt a sense of relief as he clung to her with his tiny paws. Alice attached a leash to Kane's muzzle and stood, allowing him to move around.

"Finish getting ready," she said to Annie without turning around. "We're going to start walking in a few minutes." Keeping Brave close to her chest, she gathered the rest of her things quickly and only put him down once they had actually set off. To Annie's surprise (and indignation), Alice had chosen not to punish Kane by putting him in his Poké Ball. Hans also voiced concerns.

"Alice, shouldn't you take a break? He'll recognize it as punishment for attacking Brave anyway, so the positives surely outweigh the negatives," he urged Alice before they began walking. As he talked, he released his female Marowak (whose name was Bones). Alice trained a somewhat cold look on her best friend.

"That would do no good in the long run," she said slowly. "That tells Kane that I do not know how to dominate. Besides, Kane and Brave _both_ need to learn respect for each other and how to read different signals. I was watching Kane; he had been telling Brave in his own way to get out of his space. I turned my back because I thought Brave had the good sense to listen."

With that unpromising start to the morning, the group set off in silence.

Despite the tenseness of the situation, Annie found time to appreciate how fascinating Viridian Forest was. The denseness of the greenery was astounding, and there were rustling noises all around her. Brave was sniffing the air constantly, and at one point ran to the edge of the path and found a patch of Oran Berries. Before he could pick some, however, two Pikachu shot some sparks at him, and he jumped back, startled. The berry patch, apparently, was claimed.

"Look closely, right over there," Hans whispered to Annie, pointing to the direction of the two Pikachu. "What do you see right behind them?" Annie squinted—directly behind the irate Pikachu was a large, gnarled old tree with a split trunk. Tucked into a hollow at the base of it was—

"A nest? With eggs?" Annie asked, peering around the Pokémon.

"Exactly. They're protecting their eggs, and the food supply they'll need once they hatch." As they watched, the Pikachu parents, evidently satisfied that they weren't going to take the berries or the eggs, retreated towards the nest, still keeping an eye on them. "Oh!" Hans said, snapping a finger. "Right, the eggs reminded me! Alice?" he called to where she was waiting, slightly ahead of them. "We should go visit Len!"

"Why?" Alice took the brief rest from walking as an opportunity to take a swig from her water.

"To warn him about the poachers," Hans replied, catching up with her. Annie followed behind a bit hesitantly, not certain if Alice was still upset about the morning's events. "I mean, he's got a pretty large supply of eggs and Pokémon. And he's so secluded he probably won't have heard about the poachers yet."

"Good thing we're so close, then," Alice reflected. "His house can't be more than fifteen minutes from here."

"Let's get going, then," Hans said cheerfully. "Come on, Bones!" The Marowak huffed, but seemed more amused by her overly happy Trainer than anything.

"Who's Len?" Annie asked tentatively, not wanting to intrude on the conversation, which seemed strangely intimate. Hans started, as though he had forgotten Annie was even there. He began explaining as they turned onto what looked like a little-used path diverging from the main one, going deeper into the woods.

"He's an old friend of ours," he said, locking his hands on the back of his head as he walked. "A breeder, actually. And an awesome cook for both people and Pokémon." Suddenly he laughed and started sort of dancing his way down the road. "Finally, a good meal for the first time in six months!"

"I was always the one who cooked when we traveled," Alice said in a conspirator's tone, sidling up next to Annie and Brave (careful to keep Kane on the outside). "Ever wonder why he doesn't have any Fire types? He can barely handle a cooking fire, let alone a Fire Pokémon."

"Good thing I can cook," Annie said in a serious tone, but with a joking glint in her eye. "At least I know that if I'm stuck alone with him I won't starve to death."

"Oh, yeah," Alice said with a small wink. "He's pretty helpless by himself."

"You're both so mean to me," Hans said in a fake upset tone.

"It's the price you pay for having women in your life," Alice stated superiorly without batting an eyelash. Everyone laughed, including Brave and Bones. Even Kane seemed more relaxed, with his tail lowered and his head high.

"There it is!" Hans said excitedly, pointing through the trees as a house came into view. "Hey, Len!" he called out to a tall man wearing shorts, a black t-shirt, and a bandanna. The man stood up and waved, grinning when he saw them.

"Hans! Alice! Other girl whose name I don't know! Hi!" he said cheerily. "You guys are just in time for lunch, too!"

"Victory!" Hans cried happily. "Oh, this is Annie, Len."

"Hi, Annie!" Len said jubilantly. "Let's go inside, we'll have lunch and then I'll give you the grand tour." A Jigglypuff and a Mareep followed closely behind him.

They settled into a tatami-style room, seating themselves on the floor around a low table. Bowls of rice flavored with different spices and vegetables were sitting on it.

"I always make a few extra, you know, in case I have company," Len explained as they settled. "You can release your Pokémon, too, so they can have food. I see you're still going on and on about Mightyena, Alice," he nodded in Kane's direction, seemingly not noticing how Alice stiffened. "I don't see the need for the muzzle and leash, though. It's pretty safe around here."

"That's kind of what we came to talk to you about," Hans explained. "There are poachers around here. They took three of Alice's team and one of mine. We thought we'd come and warn you so you'd be prepared."

"Poachers, huh? That does seem pretty worrisome," Len said, looking suddenly concerned. "I'd better get all my Pokémon and eggs inside and secure, then. Would you guys mind helping?"

"Not at all," Alice said. "I'd ask my Pokémon to help, but Wolf is too big and Tiktok is too small."

"My Pokémon can pitch in," Hans offered.

"Brave, do you want to help, too?" Annie asked her small companion. He smiled enthusiastically and nodded in the affirmative.

"Lunch can wait for a few minutes," Alice decided, standing up and joining Annie, who was already following Len out the door. Hans pointedly gobbled up a few more mouthfuls before standing as well and ushering Bones out the door, along with Shot and Fluffy Girl. "Kane, stay here," Alice said gently. The beast uneasily complied with her request, sitting on the floor.

"We have to get the eggs to safety first—I mean, it's not as if they can carry themselves," Len said, walking quickly through the hall of his house to a large, outside grove. "Most of the Pokémon are already inside for the day, but some of them may still be around. If you see one, tell them to go inside. Other than that, just look for eggs—some of them will be in tall grass, others in burrows, others near the water or under rocks. Right now there are ten that I know of, but there could be more. Search everywhere."

Everyone spread out and dedicated the next half hour to finding the eggs and Pokémon. Soon they had found a total of thirteen eggs, and though they continued searching, no more could be found. They took them to what Len called the Mass Incubator, which was a place to store eggs. There was only one already in the incubator.

"Why is there only one?" Annie asked curiously as she cautiously placed the eggs one by one into slots.

"That one I found way out in the forest with no signs of a parent around anywhere, so I decided to take it. Do you want it?" Len asked, completely serious.

"Uh—"

"No." The word had come from Alice, who stood with pursed lips and a shaking head. "Annie, you just started out yesterday. Brave is your only Pokémon right now, and you need to take the time to bond with him first."

"I actually think it's a good idea," Hans interjected, ignoring the furious and incredulous look Alice threw his way. "This will bring them closer. The egg won't hatch for several months and it will give them common ground, something to look after together."

"Yeah!" Annie said enthusiastically, glancing down at Brave. "What do you say, Brave?" Brave jumped up and down, and spun, grinning in an obvious show of enthusiasm.

"Great!" Len said, taking the egg in question out of the Incubator and putting it into a miniature, travel-friendly one.

"What Pokémon is it from?" Annie asked curiously, holding the container down for Brave to examine.

"No idea!" Len replied cheerfully. "That's why I was so eager for you to take it. I kept it around for a bit to see if anyone would claim it, but no one has so far. I can't afford to hatch an egg from a Pokémon I might know nothing about. I have a business to run, you know. You're really doing me a favor."

"Why don't you think you'd know anything about it?" Hans asked in confusion, peering at the egg. "All the eggs look the same to me." Len knelt down to Brave's level to explain.

"You can't really see it without a trained eye, but the pattern on this one will emerge pretty soon," he said, pointing at various spots on the egg. "It looks like there are more jagged stripes than spots or shapes, but there are definitely at least three shapes. And you can see on the very edges on the top and bottom—see that? Hints of a dark grayish color? It's not a color I normally work with. Usually that kind of color indicates a Ground, Rock, or Normal Type, but it's a bit early to really tell. I deal with a lot of Normal types here, but none with this egg pattern or color. If the stripes turn yellow, you might even be looking at an Electric type." Len looked up to see the three Trainers staring at him in confusion.

"How do you see all of that?" Hans asked at last. "All I see is a white egg all the way around."

"Trained eye, Hans, comes with the trade," Len laughed. "Let's go finish lunch, shall we?" Everyone made a noise in the affirmative and happily trekked back to the dining area.

Surprisingly, when they entered, Kane immediately got up with a distinct wag in his tail, walking towards Alice, butting her thigh with his head in a show of affection.

"I missed you too, Kane," Alice laughed gently as the rest of them looked on, dumbfounded. "You're more insecure than I thought you were, huh?" She gave him a few rubs on his neck before settling on the ground before the table. Kane lay down next to her, apparently content.

Once they had had enough to eat, the three Trainers and their Pokémon gathered their belongings and left. Brave was proudly carrying the egg.

"You guys be careful, okay?" Len called to them as they left back through the forest.

"We will! You be careful too!" Annie called back, waving.

"See you!" Alice called.

They made it back to the main path and continued walking. The sun was high in the sky, but it wasn't too hot. Occasional clouds provided some shade in addition to the high-growing trees all around them.

Suddenly, without warning, Alice stopped, looking like she was listening intently for something. Her stance was tense and poised.

"What is it—" Annie began to ask worriedly, but Hans held up a hand to indicate silence. Annie strained to hear whatever it was they were so intent upon listening to. Her ears registered something—wings. Lots of them, evidently headed in their direction.

"Oh my Arceus," Hans said lowly, moving closer to Alice.

"So I'm right?" Alice replied in the same low tone.

"I think so. Annie," Hans addressed her without looking at her, "run. _Now._"

"What? But why?" Annie cried. "If there's something bad, I want to fight—"

"No!" Hans cried. Bones tensed up beside him, looking to the sky and keeping the bone in her hand poised for action. "You've got an egg to worry about now. Get into the trees." Suddenly, he changed the direction he was looking, brandishing a blunt wooden dagger Annie hadn't even known he had. Glancing at Alice, she saw that the older girl had a similar weapon, but much longer—a wooden staff. "They're coming! _Go_!" he yelled.

Alice took off Kane's muzzle. "If you have any loyalty to me, my friend, help me now," she told him. The Mightyena growled, but not at her—at whatever the threat in the sky was.

A few seconds later, almost without warning, a flock of Spearow descended upon them.

Annie jumped back, startled and horrified, as her friends became surrounded by pecking beaks and flapping wings and terrible screeching. Brave cried out beside her, and Annie picked him up, holding him and the egg close to her chest.

She crashed through the undergrowth, not sure where she was going and not really caring either. She was driven by fear and instinct to protect the two precious beings nestled in her embrace.

Finally, Annie's mind calmed, and her pace slowed. She had come upon a small grove. To her surprise, there were people already there—but not people she would want to greet and ask for help.

Team Rocket. Grunts, by the look of their uniforms, but still more experienced than Annie was.

"Hey!" the female of the duo said, standing up. "Look who we have here. Care to give us your Pokémon, squirt?"

"Never," Annie growled with a fierceness she didn't know she possessed. She locked eyes with Brave—the determination in those brown orbs told her all she needed to know. She set him on the ground. "You'll have to take them from me."

"Ooooh, we've got a fighter on our hands," the male of the duo said with a spark in his eye. "Well, I'm bored anyway—we might as well make this fun." He took what looked to be his only Poké Ball from his belt and expanded it to full size. "Go, Zubat!" he shouted dramatically. A Zubat flew into the air. "Zubat, use Supersonic!" he said.

"Brave, dodge and use Tackle!" Annie called out, feeling a thrill as Brave dodged nimbly and jumped to Tackle the Zubat to the ground. "Now use Scratch!" she cried.

"Astonish!" called the Team Rocket grunt. Brave jumped back, startled.

"Use Ember!" Annie called, not to be thrown off guard. The blast hit the Zubat full-on, and it tumbled from the air, fainted.

"No!" said the female grunt. "And I don't have any Pokémon with me…"

"What?!" shouted the male grunt. Making a disgusted noise, he pointed a finger at Annie and growled, "We'll meet again!" Then they took off into the undergrowth before Annie could say anything. She stood in shocked silence for a moment. Then her face broke out into a huge smile.

"We won our first battle, Brave!" she cried in delight. Brave jumped up and down, obviously just as ecstatic as she was. For a while, they danced (with the egg safe on the ground beside them). "This is the best day of my life!" Annie declared.

Suddenly, rustling noises like someone running came from the undergrowth. Annie snatched the egg off of the ground and Brave jumped in front of her, growling. (Annie had to admit that the growling was more adorable than threatening, but she gave her Pokémon credit for trying.)

"Who's there?" she called, hoping whoever it was didn't hear the way her voice shook. Someone coughed, and a familiar shape staggered through the branches, supporting a limping figure. A Mightyena trotted anxiously beside them. "Hans! Alice!" Annie cried, rushing to help them. "What happened? How did you find me?"

"You left a pretty obvious trail through the undergrowth. A Fearow showed up, I think it might have been their mother or something," Hans said. "I think it used a Peck attack and hit Alice in the leg."

"It's nothing," Alice protested as she was put on the ground. Annie saw her leg—bleeding from the calf. It sure didn't like "nothing" from her point of view. Hans was pale and looked extremely worried, which just confirmed Annie's feeling that something was terribly wrong.

"Let's just see, okay?" Hans asked in a tone that invited no protest. He took out a Poké Ball and released Shot. "Water Gun, Shot. But gently. Just to clean the wound, okay?" Shot nodded in compliance and released a stream of water from his mouth, looking concerned for Alice. Kane, meanwhile, paced anxiously around his Trainer, shredding grass with his claws.

"Told you it was nothing, didn't I?" Alice said lightly from the ground as Hans peered at the wound. Annie glanced at it and quickly glanced away—there was a gaping hole in the center of her calf, not as deep as the bone but still large and oozing blood.

"We should get you to a hospital," he said. "Just to make sure it doesn't get infected."

"Viridian City is only about an hour from here; we should get moving," Annie interjected. Hans nodded in agreement.

"Meanwhile, we should bind it," he added. Before Alice could protest, he tore off a piece of his shirt and bound it around her leg. "Is that too tight?" he asked her worriedly.

"No, it's fine," Alice sighed, then laughed. "You always did tell me it's better to wear jeans than capris for protection."

"Stop trying to talk," Hans scolded. "If only we were in Unova. I could use my XTransciever to call for help."

"Of course you'd want to be in Unova," Alice said, her words somewhat slurred as she smiled.

"Can't Wolf fly you guys in? I can catch up later," Annie suggested. Both of the older Trainers looked startled at her levelheadedness.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Hans muttered, taking Wolf's Poké Ball from Alice's belt. He released the giant Aerodactyl, who, upon seeing his apparently incapacitated Trainer, cried out in anguish.

"Calm down, Wolf!" Hans ordered. "Alice is hurt and we need you to fly us to Viridian City. With you flying us it should only take twenty minutes or so." Wolf knelt down and spread his wings out in invitation. Hans knelt toward Alice and whispered, "This is why you only have one Flying type in your team." He turned to Annie after he had lifted Alice onto Wolf's back. "You're sure you'll be all right? Do you want me to leave Shot or Bones here with you?"

"I'll be fine. You should go. And get Kane, he looks really worried," Annie added. Hans needed no further motivation. He Returned all of his Pokémon as well as Kane, made sure Alice was secure, then instructed Wolf to fly.

Suddenly the forest was very quiet.

After taking a moment to truly absorb what was happening, Annie squared her shoulders and said, "Come on, Brave, let's follow after them." The Charmander scampered out of the clearing by her side as they walked towards the path.

**The ending didn't quite go as planned, but I think it's pretty awesome. Review, please!**


End file.
